Crispy Oven-Baked Onion Rings

It’s always better for both your budget and your health to eat at home instead of in a restaurant, and keeping that resolution is always easier when we can add popular appetizers to our home cooking repertoire. Our latest and greatest addition? Onion rings! These addictive snacks are never going to be exactly healthy, but when we make them at home, control the ingredients and bake them instead of fry them, they’re certainly healthier— so we’ll take it! You too? Here’s how to make crispy, tasty onion rings in the comfort of your kitchen.

At least 4 hours in advance, tenderize the onions by placing them in a baking dish and covering with buttermilk. Onions do not need to be completely submerged. Cover and place in the refrigerator to tenderize before breading.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the onions from the refrigerator. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy.

In a large shallow dish, combine the flour, cornmeal, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and Cajun spice.

Working one at a time, remove the onion rings from the buttermilk and dip in the egg whites. Shake off any excess, then dip into the bread crumb mixture and coat the onion ring evenly on all sides.

Place the breaded onion rings onto the sheet pans in a single layer. When the onions have all been breaded and placed on the tray, spray the tops with pan spray.

Bake each pan for 30 minutes, or until the onion rings are brown and crispy, flipping halfway to brown both sides.

Allow the onion rings to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Tips

Don’t worry about running out of the breading mixture; you can always make more if you need. It’s much more important to make sure those onion rings get fully, evenly coated.

You may make more or less than two sheet pans depending on the size of onions you use.

Baked onion rings can be frozen for up to 2 to 3 months! When you’re ready to eat, bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, until warmed-through and crispy.